]]>It’s summertime on Martha’s Vineyard, and that means … clambakes. Long before the Pilgrims showed up, New England Indians celebrated summer with clambakes. So I asked fellow Massachusettsan and James Beard Award-nominated author of 18 books, Jennifer Trainer Thompson, to walk us through the process. Yes, you get to play with a wood fire in a big way, and yes, there will be lobster. This guide is excerpted from Jennifer’s latest:Fresh Fish: A Fearless Guide to Grilling, Shucking, Searing, Poaching, and Roasting Seafood(Storey Publishing). You can get it wherever ebooks are sold for $3.99 or less now through July 18 only.

Note: If you don’t have access to a beach, you can prepare a traditional clambake in your backyard. And next month, we’ll show you how to do it on a grill top.

–Steven

To New Englanders, the clambake is as cherished and steeped in tradition as Paul Revere’s ride. Clambakes are primal rituals, big boisterous affairs, usually held in high summer. Like a tailgate picnic, they are best done with a group, for they take a lot of time, but lots of helping hands add to the fun. The hardest part is collecting wet seaweed. It is so worth it—don’t be deterred.

Look at the tides, and make sure you build your bake at the high-water mark, as you’ll need about 7 hours from start to the time you eat. After spending the day gathering seaweed and firewood, building the pit, and eating your feast, you’ll want to linger by the fire to enjoy the night sky, so bring blankets, fixings for s’mores, and some good rum. Clambakes comprise three of my favorite activities: digging in the sand, enjoying a beach bonfire, and eating buttery shellfish with my fingers. This is the original Native American finger food—no bibs needed and you can wash your fingers in the surf.

]]>http://barbecuebible.com/2016/07/15/how-to-prepare-lobster-clambake/feed/0Clam Meets Grillhttp://barbecuebible.com/2013/08/05/clam-meets-grill/
http://barbecuebible.com/2013/08/05/clam-meets-grill/#respondMon, 05 Aug 2013 07:37:33 +0000http://barbecuebible.com/?p=4166Grilled oysters are a dime the proverbial dozen this time of year. (Not that I’m complaining.) But it’s not every day that you experience fresh clams hot off the grill. […]

It was a flavor he never forgot — not when he lived in Italy as a participant in the WWOOF (World Wild Opportunities in Organic Farming) program. (The reverence he observed in Italians of all ages for their 2,500 plus year-old cuisine inspired him to become a chef.) Not during the 10 years he worked in New York for such respected restaurateurs as Sirio Maccioni of Le Cirque and Cesare Casella of Beppe and Il Buco Alimentari. “Port Hunter may seem like a bar food/fish house sort of restaurant,” Oster says. “But the food I do here — even the fish tacos — are Italian in spirit.”

He shucks a half-dozen littleneck clams dug locally the previous evening. He lines them up on a sizzle plate, topping each with a chunky vinaigrette that contains only three ingredients: preserved lemons, jalapeno peppers, and extra virgin olive oil. He grills the clams over a hot fire just long enough to poach the shellfish in their natural juices. A wisp of wood smoke curls over the edge of shells, imparting the hunger-inducing scent of hickory. The clams are ready in two minutes — the salty pickled lemon and spicy jalapeno give you a whole new perspective on shellfish.

“Clams prepared this way make me think of the girl who lived next door you played softball with every day growing up,” Oster says. “One day she puts on a dress and high heels and all of the sudden she’s a woman. You fall head over heels in love.”

To make the Port Hunter’s grilled clams, you’ll need fresh littlenecks — the smallest members of a hard shell clam family that includes cherrystones, topnecks, and quahaugs (chowder clams). Ideally, you’ll dig them yourself, using a time-honored method I’ve come to call the “Katama Bay clam dance.” You stand in shallow water and rotate your feet back in forth like you’re doing the Twist, wriggling your toes to feel for clamshells. When you find one, you pull it up with your “bear paw” (a six-prong clam rake.)

Barring the option of digging your own clams fresh, buy them from a fishmonger that turns its inventory often. Make sure the shells are tightly closed and the clams smell briny not fishy.

You’ll need to know about one special ingredient to make this recipe — preserved lemon — a traditional Moroccan condiment made by pickling fresh lemon with salt. Imagine the vivifying bite of fresh lemon juice and rich salty tang of your favorite umami ingredient, like pickles or anchovies, and you’ll understand why you need to make preserved lemon part of your flavor arsenal right now — if it isn’t already. Preserved lemon is easy to make at home. Alternatively, you can buy bottled preserved lemon at gourmet shops or online.

Oster grills his clams on an Cookshack professional gas grill that has an ingenious pellet smoker built under the grate. At home, you’d toss a handful of soaked hickory chips on the bed of coals in your charcoal grill or use a smoker box or smoker pouch on your gas grill. Oster serves the grilled clams on a metal plate with a sprinkling of minced chives as the only embellishment.

If you happen to be on Martha’s Vineyard, the Port Hunter is located at 55 Main St. in Edgartown. It’s a lively space with soaring brick walls, butcher block tables, and a convivial bar running the length of the dining room.

Succulent steak? Check. Fork-tender brisket? Check. Ready for something new to grill? How about Chappaquiddick Clams Casino? The Hermit of Chappaquiddick (not me!) prepares these bacon and wild garlic-flavored clams for Claire in my new novel, Island Apart. For the recipe, please copy and paste this link to your browser: http://www.stevenraichlen.com/chappaquiddick-clams-casino-recipe/

Shuck the clams fresh to order. Set up your grill for indirect grilling and preheat to high–about 450 degrees. Grill clams until the bacon is browned and the filling is sizzling, 8 to 10 minutes.

The Raichlens will be celebrating the holiday with a beach barbecue with their friends Mitch and Stephanie Reiter. (For all you campers out there, they own Camp Towanda in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania.)

The Raichlens will be celebrating the holiday with a beach barbecue with their friends Mitch and Stephanie Reiter. (For all you campers out there, they own Camp Towanda in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania.)

First, a basket of steamers dug that morning.

Corn from the local farmstand, grilled husks off.
Finally, fresh lobster basted with herbed butter and finished with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice. Happy Labor Day everyone!

It’s hard to believe Labor Day is upon us already. Steve, Barbara, daugher Betsy (in the center) and son Jake (in the Chappy T-shirt) wish everyone a great holiday. Here are some of the dishes we grilled on Martha’s Vineyard this summer.

Greetings from Barbecue University! This week Steven is back at
The Greenbrier for the start of the 7th season of Barbecue
University. The first job of the day is to fire up 10 chimney
starters.
Here’s a selection of our more than 2 dozen grills and smokers (from
front to back Horizon Smoker, Brinkmann Smoker, Weber Smoky Mountain,
Big Drum Smoker, VIking C4)
So what’s on the menu?
This morning’s class featured:
Village hammers
Curry grilled clams
Tequila grilled oysters
Pac-Rim steak au poivre
A whole (12 pound) dilled grilled salmon
Smoke-roasted prime rib
Santa Margarita grilled vegetable platter
Smoked blueberry peach cobbler
Here are some other dishes we prepared this week: Mint Julep Ribs
with Bourbon Barbecue Sauce (recipe in Raichlen on Ribs).

Especially when they’ve been dug that morning (see below) and grilled over wine barrel staves on a wood burning grill. The technique is simple: grill the clams just until the shells open, then transfer them (taking care not to spill the tasty juices) into a broth made with garlic, onions, paprika, olive oil, and white wine. (Saute the former in the oil, then add the wine and boil for 3 minutes. If you look at the photo closely, you’ll catch a glimpse of Steven’s latest invention: a shellfish rack designed to hold clams, oysters, and mussels stable while you grill them.

Once you understand the principle, you can grill any shellfish, like these briny succulent oysters freshly harvested from Katama Bay. The sauce here is miso mayonnaise. You grill the oysters just long enough to poach them in their juices. They shouldn’t quite come to a rolling boil.

Of course, the real secret to great grilled shellfish is freshness and it doesn’t get much fresher than this.’
Here Steven’s son, Jake, (on the left) and his girlfriend, Pam, and his daughter, Betsy (right) and her boyfriend, Gabriel, pause from digging clams in Katama Bay.

From time to time, we'll give you an exclusive preview of recipes that will be featured on the next season of Barbecue University on PBS. Here's the first--Paella on the Grill--cooked over wood as it was centuries ago in Eastern Spain. The filming and production crew devoured it on the spot.

From time to time, we’ll give you an exclusive preview of recipes that will be featured on the next season of Barbecue University on PBS. Here’s the first–Paella on the Grill–cooked over wood as it was centuries ago in Eastern Spain. The filming and production crew devoured it on the spot.